I love getting mail from my friend @Bettywriter. Every few months she sends me beers from the Portland area. With the NBA finals kicking off this week, I thought I’d have this beer she recently sent me, which celebrates the Portland Trailblazers NBA championship in 1977. It’s a lager from Pyramid Brewing, which has locations in Seattle and Portland. It’s been an awesome Saturday outside, and it’s the only weekend this summer that my son doesn’t have a baseball game. So, it’s been nice to just relax around the house.
Location: Poured into a pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.8% ABV, ~160 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s golden-amber in color, and it had a decent head on it when I first poured it. It has a good amount of carbonation in it, but the head fell fairly quickly to a very thin ring around the edge of the glass. It has a bit of a lightly fruity-lagery, maybe noble hop aroma I find common in Pyramid beers.
Taste & Feel: The body is light, and the mouthfeel is quite crisp from the carbonation in it. The flavor up front is lightly grainy and lagery with some very light caramel maltiness deep in the background. The middle is smoother, with the light grainy-malty flavors rising just slightly. In the finish, the lagery-noble hop flavors and bitterness come out quite a bit.
Food Pairing: This is fairly light, with some grainy maltiness with some light bitterness. I think I’d pair this beer with a plate of hot wings during the NBA finals. The malty, lightly bitter hops would knock down the spiciness a bit.
Overall Impression: This was flavorful for a light lager beer, with some grainy maltiness and a good dose of noble hop bitterness in the finish. I really did crave some hot wings while enjoying this beer. It was OK, but there’s something about Pyramid beers that doesn’t seem to strike my palette right. It’s something I can only describe as a lightly fruity lagery flavor that I’m not a huge fan of. Overall, this one wasn’t too bad, and I really appreciated the timing of the beer.
My Rating: 
Recent Comments